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Image © Yvan Zedda / Groupama – Sadly Prada is gone but Franck might have secured their participation for Bermuda.
The Bertarellis bros now playing with the GC32s & D35s & Diam OD24 could take where Patrizio Bertelli & Prada left and launch an Spindrift/Alinghi funded challenge.
On a possible new team , Japan’s SoftBank Challenge has been accepted.
Check below video of the ride at Lorient & Interview with Cammas (in French)
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Although I have upmost respect for Gunnar and Peter and the Team at Nacra things are simply going the wrong way. The population of the World grow yet the numbers of people sailing, especially kids shrink. The boats are getting ever more technical. More expensive. The fleets are getting smaller and smaller. They only need to look in their back yard at the Skeleton of what was once the great Catamaran event, Texel, smaller and smaller each year. Having said that we are about to see the largest F18 Worlds ever. This off the back of the smallest F18 Class at Eurocat possibly ever. This foiling thing although great for development sure is not going to revive the numbers of people sailing. And now ISAF selecting another youth Cat just turns people away further (having said that I am sure the N15 is a great boat.) Having been to be many ISAF conferences and watching the merry-go-round of politics unless someone stands up that doesn't have dollars and foiling stars in their eyes the fleets will continue to shrink until there is just a select few millionaires high five-ing each other in their 10 boat fleet for doing such a great job of accomplishing nothing but destroying what sailing once was. Accessible….
Ok Gavin , but don´t come up with the H16 solution neither all over again, chapter closed. The Nacra F16 was the right choice.
And you need to let foilers fly, let A-Classic float, et all . What I don´t like is when you force sailors to buy the less practical solution having such a fleet of F16s.
The 'problem' was that choosing the Nacra F16 would have open doors to other builders to sell boats too, or use existing used boats, and Nacra as a company wanted fresh sales and yet another monopoly, that ISAF granted them no problem.
That is the real goal of chopping a bit of the Nacra F16.
Great business for Nacra, I would definitely invest in such company and their management, but I maintain that the 15 was not the best interest for the for Youths.
No problems. I won't mention a 16! But what is happening now is just comedy. Luckily I can look from a far these days and shake my head. And watch the fleets get smaller and smaller. Sad.
The F18 will remain a strong class, not all can fly on costs & handling and soon we will target to offer an F18 near the cost of this 15 little toy. On branded classes I don´t see others doing the work Nacra does,
Yes, I think in general Gavin is right acc. the explosion of costs for catsailing (exept F18, which is quite stable).Annother part of the problem is that Hobie has lost their strength in the market by doing too many wrong decisions in their strategy. This is also what the fleets is spreading and (exept in GER) gets the F 18 fleet smaller as the number of Wildcat and Tiger sailors keep away from the events and neither could upgrade or sell. Also Hobie has no offer for F 16 sailors.
The idea to have the Hobie 16 as Olympic Class was a joke without a real chance.Times are changing.
The Nacra 15 surely is a nice little toy, but no way a pathway to the olympic catamaran. Gunnar said in an interview with ISAF, that the target group are kids from the age of 12 up to the age of nineteen. Dunno if I am right, but I have informations that the weight of the N15 is above 130kg, which is too heavy for 12 year old kids. On the other end, an average nineteen year old sailor can easily handle an F18 and probably won't bother with a little toy. Apart from that, the N15 is a kid's boat with no other use, whereas the F16 is a family boat and thus offers a lot more value for money. ISAF might have served the interest of Nacra, the dealer's, rich sailing clubs and rich parents. But for sure ISAF did not serve the interests of the sailing community.
That is the main reason I remarked on such a fail decision: "No oher use" , when kids are already sailing bigger more powerful boats like the F16 & F18. This is as you point out: ISAF serving Nacra, real shame on ISAF. Nacra is just doing their work, which is selling boats, and it this specific case they are "depowering" sailors.
I would like to respond on the comments below, as I am currently sailing the N15. The plan is to join Round Texel race in two weeks. Although we are not officially a 'youth' team, with a total weight of 120 kilo we are really excited about the performance of this new catamaran.
In the past years I have been sailing the F18 and the N17. The flying Nacra 17 means a world of difference compared to the F18: it is more powerful, accelerating, jumpy and extreme, but once you are able to control this catamaran you will absolutely love this new way of sailing. It is only a matter of time before al catamarans will 'fly'.
However, I also experienced that the N 17 is not perfect for lightweight teams unless the crew is very athletic and able to control the catamaran in any condition. This is not possible for children. Even if they have the talent and drive, they won't be able to handle the N17 simply because they don't have the weight and strength yet.
I experienced the N15 as a powerful cat which is less 'aggressive' than the 17 and easier to handle (due to its size and fins on the rudders), but fast and challenging. In the competition field last weekend we could keep up with the F18's in strong wind conditions! For this reason I believe that the N15 is a perfect catamaran for youth before sailing the Olympic N17.